Seven Reasons for

Standards-Based
Grading
If your grading system doesn't guide students
toward excellence, iVs time for something completely different
Patricia L. Scriffiny

ach week brings some

new idea that teachers are
supposed to implement,
while still preparing
lessons, grading papers,
and keeping iheir classrooms in
some semblance of order. Amid all
these challenges, a call to change
grading poUcies can seem particularly unrealistic.
One grading practice that is gaining
popularity is standards-based grading,
which involves measuring students'
proficiency on well-defined course
objectives (Tomlinson & McTighe,
2006). Although many districts adopt
standards-based grading in addition to
traditional grades, standards-based
grading can and should replace traditional point-based grades,
i
My school, Montrose High School,
I is located in a small but rapidly
i growing rural community in south-

70

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER

2008

Reason 1: Grades Should Have Meaning

Each letter grade that a student earns at the high school level
is connected to a graduation credit, and many classes reflect
only one step in a sequence of leaming. So what does each
grade indicate to students, parents, and teachers of later
courses in the sequence? When [ first considered this question, 1 realized I had no answers. When 1 was pressed to
describe the qualitative difference between an A, B, C, D, or F,
my answers were vague. So, 1 developed a much more
focused idea of what 1 want my grades to mean;
m An A means the student has completed proficient work
on all course objectives and advanced work on some
iibjectives.
AB means the student has completed proficient work on
alt course objectives.
AC means the student has completed proficient work on
the most important objectives, although not on all objectives.
The student can continue to the next course.
AD means the student has completed proficient work on
at least one-half of the course objectives but is missing some
important objectives and is at significant risk of failing the
next course in the sequence. The student should repeat the
course if it is a prerequisite for another course.
An F means the student has completed proficient work
on fewer than one-half of the course objectives and cannot
successfully complete ihe next course in sequence.

Reason 2: We Need to Challenge the Status Quo

western Colorado. We serve a community that is primarily

white but that has a significant Latino population. After
spending the last three years implementing standards-based
grading in my high school math classroom, I have discovered
seven solid reasons for replacing point-based grades with a
standards-based system.

Many notions I had at the beginning oi my career about

grading didn't stand up to real scrutiny The thorny issue of
homework is one example of how the status quo needed to
change. 1 once thought it was essential to award points to
students simply for completing homework. I didn't believe
students would do homework unless it was graded. And yet,
in my classroom, students who were clearly learning someI times earned low grades because of missing work. Conversely,
I some students actually learned very little but were good at
"playing school." Despite dismal test scores, these students
earned decent grades by turning in homework and domg
extra credit. They would often go on to struggle in later
courses, while their parents watched and worried.
Over the past tbree years, I have radically changed how I
formally assess homeworkI don't. Of course, it is essential
for students to do homework that is tied closely lo leaming
objectives and for students to see those connections

ASSOCIATION FR SDPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

71

(Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).

Systematic and extensive feedback on
assignments sends students the message
that they can and should do homework
as practice. A typical homework assignment for my students consists of a small
collection of problems, each of which is
linked to a learning objective. At first, 1
make those connections for my
students, but eventually they make
them on tbeir own.
When I assign homework, 1 discuss
with my students where and how it
applies to tbeir assessments. My goal is
to get students to constantly ask themselves, "Do 1 know this? Can 1 do this?"
To my surprise, my homework completion rates have remamed steady over the
past three years. Some students don't do
all of the homework that I assign, but
they know that they are accountable for
mastenng the standard connected to it.

I have radically
changed how I
formally assess
homeworkI don't.
Of course, not every student who needs
to practice always does so, but 1 am
amazed and encouraged that students
ask me for extra practice fairly regularly

Reason 3: we can control

Grading Practices
One of the biggest sources of frustration
in schools today is the sense that we are
at the mercy of factors we teachers
cannot control. We cannot control
student socioeconomic levels, school

FIGURE 1. Comparing Traditional and Standards-Based Grade Books

Traditional Grade Book
Homework Average

Quiz 1

Chapter ITest

John

90

65

70

Bill

50

75

78

Susan

110

50

62

Felicia

10

90

85

Amanda

95

100

90

Name

funding, our salaries, our teaching

assignments, increasing class sizes, difficult parents, or a host of other important issues. However, we can control
how we assess students.
When I approached my principal and
district officials with the idea of using an
experimental grading system, 1 received
support and encouragement from all of
them. In addition, a number of
colleagues have been intrigued and
want to make standards-based grading
work in their classrooms.
If a teacher must use a point system
to satisfy an administrative mandate or
to use a particular grade book, that
teacher can still use a standards-based
system. The crucial idea is to use a
system that is not based on the inappropriate use of averages. The system must
not allow students to mask tbeir level of
understanding with their attendance,
their level of effort, or other peripheral
issues.
1 have found that avoiding point
values that might appear in a traditional
percentage-based system is helpful
because parents and students can get
conlused if they see numbers tbat look
like what they've seen in the past but
refer to a different scale. Teachers who
have to assign points can avoid this
confusion by using completely different
numbers. A point value in the range of
1 to 10, for example, would not have
the strong associations of a point value
of 85, and thus would not be as easily
misinterpreted.

Standards-Based Grade Book

72

Name

Objective 1: Write
an alternate ending
for a story

Objective 2:
Objective 3:
Compare and
Identify the
elements of a story contrast two stories

John

Partially proficient

Proficient

Partially proficient

Bill

Proficient

Proficient

Partially proficient

Susan

Partially proficient

Partially proficient

Partially proficient

Felicia

Advanced

Proficient

Proficient

Amanda

Partially proficient

Advanced

Proficient

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2008

Reason 4: standards-Based
Grading Reduces Meaningless
Paperwork
Since 1 adopted standards-based
grading, my load of meaningless paperwork bas been drastically reduced,
which provides time for more important
considerations. Slandards-based grading
enables me to gel the most from every
piece of paper students turn in.
Writing feedback only on selected

homework problems saves my Lime

when marking papers while sU giving
me a sense of where students are in
their learning. Tbese homework assignments and other formative assessments
help me judge the progress of the group
as a whole before deciding how to
proceed.
I don't assess student mastery of any
objective until I am confident that a
reasonable number of students will
score proficiently, and that makes each
assessment mean much more. Students
who are still struggling after a significant
portion of the class has demonstrated
mastery can retest individually. The
bottom line is that when 1 review any
set ol papers, I walk away knouang a
great deal more about what my students
know than I ever did before.

Reason 5: it Helps
Teachers Adjust Instruction
Imagine two different grade books for
the same set of students, as shown in
Figure 1. Which one of the two better
illustrates what students know and what
they still need to leam?
The standards-based grade book gives
a wealth of information to help the
teacher adjust instruction. Note that two
objectives (1 and 3) may require more
class instruction. The notations for
Objective 2, on the other hand, suggest
that the class only needs practice and
one student needs some reteaching.
Students can also see much more
information about their learning. In the
traditional grade book, Amanda would
assume she is in great shape, but
standards-based grading reveals that she
has not mastered a crucial concept.
Gifted and talented students can be
truly challenged in a standards-based
classroom because if they show early
mastery of fundamental skills and
concepts, they can then concentrate on
more challenging work that is at higher
levels of Blooms taxonomy or that seeks
connections among objectives.

Students who struggle can continue

to retest and use alternate assessments
until they show proficiency, and they are
not penalized for needing extended
time. I guide students wilh special
needs to modify their work and, if
needed, develop different ways of
demonstrating that they've met their
proficiency goals. Their working styles
can be easily accommodated in this
system because modified assignments
and assessments require no special
adjustments in the grade book. The
grade book simply shows where they
are in meeting the standards, without
reference to how they are demonstrating
their learning or what modifications
needed to be made.

Reason 6: it Teaches
What Quality Looks Like
In the idult world, everything is a
performance assessment. If adults on
the job make poor decisions or cannot
determine the quality of their own
work, the results are generally undesirable. Quality matters, and the ability to

measure the quality of one's own v/ork

is a learned skill.
So how can we teach this essential
skill? One way to teach quality is to
demand it. We must create an environment where standards can and must be
met and where students are not
permitted to submit substandard work
without being asked to re\ise.
If we base our grades on standards
rather than attendance, behavior, or
extra credit (which often has nothing to
do with course objectives), we can actually help students grapple vvith the idea
of quality and walk away with a higher
degree of self-sufficiency We can and
should report information about student
performance in areas like attendance
and effort, but we can report it separately from academic achievement
(O'Connor, 2007; Tomlinson &r
McTighe, 2006).

Reason 7: it's a Launchpad

to Other Reforms
When 1 began using standards-based
grading, I quickly discovered that I

ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

73

needed lo reexamine my curriculum.

Each class needed a clear and concise
set of standards with precise levels of
mastery. This prompted a number of
discussions with other teachers in my
department, and each year we continue
to adapt our objectives. No one can use
standards-based grading without clear
standards.
In addition to improving curriculum,
1 have found new ways to use formative
assessments and intervention strategies.
My work with special education
students and English language learners
in particular goes much more smoothly
because all the modification needed is
already built into what I do. I have also
been able to work much more effectively with parents by giving them better
information.
How do students respond to this style
of grading? Of course, their reactions

vary. It takes time, discussion, and

reflection for students to understand
their rights and responsibilities in such
a system, and teachers must be patient
as students and parents adjust. Many
students have expressed increased satisfaction with having a larger degree of
control over their grades, although some
students do not like the revisions they
are required to do. Some struggle to
overcome test anxiety and need access
to alternate assessments.
As for parents, many of them simply
want opportunities for their children to
succeed, so they are grateful for the revision and retesting. Each year, parents
ask thoughtful questions, with some
noting that this method of grading is
more similar to evaluation in the
workplace.
These seven reasons to change to
standards-based grading are merely a

startmg point. High school teachers

need to hold their own practices up to
scrutiny and decide whether those practices are worth keeping. By doing so, we
unleash a force for change that we can
control, with our students and parents
as partners. B!
References
Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J.
(2001). Classroom instruction that worhs.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
O'Connor, K. (2007). A repair kii for grading:
5 fixes jor broken grades. Ponland, OR:
Educaiiona! Tesiing Service.
Tomlinson, C-, & McTighe, J. (2006). Inlegrating dierentiated instruction and understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Patricia L. Scriffiny is a math teacher at

Montrose High School in Montrose,
Colorado; pscriffiny@mcsd.k12.co.us.

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